It was reported on Monday that Apple Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jony Ive purchased a posh $17 million home on San Francisco's "Gold Coast," an upscale section of the city's hilly Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Several readers have pointed out that Stanford University has now posted both a text transcript and video excerpt (right sidebar) from Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' commencement address on June 12, 2005. During the speech, Jobs said: "When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like, "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

Following a series of Macklowe Properties file photos that appeared on internet last month, tipsters have passed along a more recent set of images taken from the construction site of Apple's forthcoming Midtown, Manhattan Apple retail store. The photos reveal the basic structure of the space in the underground concourse of the General Motors building at 767 Fifth Avenue. A sub-basement also appears to be present in the photos, with two adjacent stairwells leading further underground.

Apple Computer claims to have over 21,000 distribution points for its iPod digital music player and growing. Here's the 21,001st: a vending machine located at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.

Things just aren't going Apple's way this week. The latest company blunder took place around 2:30 eastern time today, when an employee inadvertently updated the main Apple.com web page with graphics planned for Friday's launch of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger."

Apple on Friday began shipping Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the next version of its Mac OS X operating system. Although Tiger will not officially launched until April 29th, one MacNN.com reader provided the publication with a shipment confirmation from the Apple Store. The document showed a delivery date of April 25 via Fedex Ground--well ahead of the official release date next week. MacNN says orders with expedited shipping may have earlier delivery dates.

A series of recent Macklowe Properties file photos show the ground-breaking and construction efforts outside 767 Fifth Ave, the site of the General Motors building that will eventually host a massive Apple retail store in its underground concourse.

It's happening. Before you can use your mobile phone to purchase and download CD-quality audio tracks, you can use it to log on to the Apple online store and purchase an iPod for yourself or a friend...if you're in Japan.